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Cliff a liability right now

We are seeing posters call multiple players a weakness on the team.

This after a road win

McConnell plays tough D
Cliff a good defender and rebounder

The team played well enough to win with great poise after the NW run

I thought we would lose and did not give the team the credit for playing with poise,

I thought we would fade at the end under the pressure of the loud crowd

This is the team that gets it done this year
McConnell PLAYED good d. Past tense. Haven’t seen it this year. Pike will continue to play him starter minutes but Hyatt’s d isn’t any worse and he’s a much better offensive player.
 
He is not hurt. Teams have figured out that if you keep him away from the rim he will not score, he cannot create his own shot. Also I think he feeds off and gets some of his energy off his dunks. Take the dunks away and he looks out of it on the offensive end of the floor.
He is hurt. I sat front row last game. It's clear. You don't know what you're talking about
 
McConnell PLAYED good d. Past tense. Haven’t seen it this year. Pike will continue to play him starter minutes but Hyatt’s d isn’t any worse and he’s a much better offensive player.
start Hyatt, but in for Mag

Let Mag have decent off the bench minutes however
I keep McConnell in
 
Cliff is hurting. He has no jump in his game. I believe he hurt his calf or thigh towards end of Purdue game if I recall.
He has a sleeve on his calf. He was CLEARLY favoring his right side at Iowa. I sat 1st row. It is very obvious from that close. Every step when he's walking you can see it when you're only feet away from him

Not sure why some people who know nothing insist he isn't hurt so that they can push an anti Cliff narrative. Just a weird mindset from negative self loathing fans
 
Agree with you here. Cliff is still rebounding at least. McConnell seems slow and in a fog half of each game.

We don’t have a choice but to play both Paul and Caleb almost the whole game even when they have off days. We’re a turnover machine without both of them on the floor together for long stretches and that’s true even considering Caleb’s untimely turnovers.

Our depth is mostly guys who are only suited for 4-5 - Hyatt, Mag, Wolf, Reiber

We basically have Simpson as the sub for Paul, Caleb and Cam.
 
If you haven’t seen good D from Caleb this year, then you don’t know what good D is.
He’s been too slow on closeouts since coming back. Hyatt got beat once by Buie off the dribble but Cliff was supposed to be there. Other than that play, Hyatt did fine all game.
 
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McConnell PLAYED good d. Past tense. Haven’t seen it this year. Pike will continue to play him starter minutes but Hyatt’s d isn’t any worse and he’s a much better offensive player.
Even if this was true, it wouldn’t matter. Hyatt can’t handle the ball. At all. Neither can Mag. That’s why Pike mostly plays these guys at the 4 only and not that much together. Pretty much never without Paul and Caleb together. Being able to handle the ball even a little comes at a premium on this team. Paul is a great distributor but he’s not necessarily the best ball handling PG. He needs help and Pike does a great job of using Caleb and Cam to help Paul. It doesn’t work, unfortunately with the other guys. They can’t handle on ball perimeter pressure even a little. We use Simpson to spell the 3 guys we have and deal with frosh growing pains. But now that we’re in BIG play, it’s really not an option in most match ups to slide those guys over to the 2 or 3.
 
He didn't get the rebound on the play before the FT then fouled... then didn't get the rebound on the missed FT. It was a brutal stretch for Dean there

Where is Wolf!?!?!
Absolutely - but was that when Caleb and Mag were both on the bench? If so, we put Dean in a pretty bad rebounding spot line up wise.
 
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Even if this was true, it wouldn’t matter. Hyatt can’t handle the ball. At all. Neither can Mag. That’s why Pike mostly plays these guys at the 4 only and not that much together. Pretty much never without Paul and Caleb together. Being able to handle the ball even a little comes at a premium on this team. Paul is a great distributor but he’s not necessarily the best ball handling PG. He needs help and Pike does a great job of using Caleb and Cam to help Paul. It doesn’t work, unfortunately with the other guys. They can’t handle on ball perimeter pressure even a little. We use Simpson to spell the 3 guys we have and deal with frosh growing pains. But now that we’re in BIG play, it’s really not an option in most match ups to slide those guys over to the 2 or 3.
I concede that good point, that McConnell can run the O and handle the ball but you don’t need that with Paul in the game, especially when Spencer is in the game too. McConnell gets loyalty minutes. Hyatt is the better player. In fact, I think Mag is better too.
 
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Half Baked Boo GIF


Live reaction to the OP's take in this thread.
 
I concede that good point, that McConnell can run the O and handle the ball but you don’t need that with Paul in the game, especially when Spencer is in the game too. McConnell gets loyalty minutes. Hyatt is the better player. In fact, I think Mag is better too.

No - for our halfcourt offense we need 3 perimeter players because Paul isn’t the best ball handling PG. He’s an excellent distributor but that isn’t the same as being able to handle on ball pressure and traps. And we don’t really want Cam being a primary handler anyway. We’re looking to find catch and shoot opportunities for him. He’s supposed to be option 3 in running the offense.

The problem is Mag and Hyatt are almost a guaranteed turnover when they start dribbling on the perimeter. That’s why Pike doesn’t play them there. Neither of them look good when one has to slide over in games due to foul trouble. It’s not like we haven’t tried.
 
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He’s been too slow on closeouts since coming back. Hyatt got beat once by Buie off the dribble but Cliff was supposed to be there. Other than that play, Hyatt did fine all game.
I didn’t say anything about Hyatt.
 
Look - not criticizing the guy personally. But he’s not himself. R

Right now it’s the Cam, Mulcahy and Hyatt show. Hopefully Cliff rights the ship and he and Mconnel (who also ha struggled some, even on D) can carry the team at another point.
 
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Others have said it and I agree — we have fans who either have no understanding of the game or have completely unrealistic expectations. We are a good, bordering on very good, team. We play great defense. Sure, I’d love if we played great offense too but that would have us undefeated and #1 in the country. This is who we are and fans are too busy complaining to enjoy this team.
 
Cliffs roll gravity must not be forgotten either. Reason why we are able to get so many midrange shots is cause bigs have to stick on Cliff.
THIS!!! Defenses have to account for Cliff in a big way. If they want to take away his inside game it creates opportunities for everyone else. Then they have to account for Cam from the outside. Now we have 3 guys that have the gift of space. Win!
 
Caleb has never been a great offensive player. I dont know why fans thought that was going to change.
There was a stretch where he had a real nice mid range game and could contribute some. Now that's gone and exclusively one side of court contributor. Also one or two head scratcher plays every game.
 
There was a stretch where he had a real nice mid range game and could contribute some. Now that's gone and exclusively one side of court contributor. Also one or two head scratcher plays every game.
I'd go further, his spacing, reads and ball movement are a negative. He sometimes makes it harder for other players to score or make the right offensive play. It's amazing to me that he's played so many games and isn't even a decent ball movement guy.

His offensive rebounding has been valuable and timely though. His defense is good enough to keep him on the court though, he's really that good of a defender.
 
He is hurt. I sat front row last game. It's clear. You don't know what you're talking about
So, they didn't know that keeping an athletic , long , 6'11" guy away from the rim was a good thing until 3 games ago ?
Yea, that makes sense
 
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